Ocote Soul Sounds (Martin from Antibalas, left)

Mondo Mundo Festival, put on by the booking agency of the same name, is happening at Hiro Ballrom Saturday, January 9th. Ocote Soul Sounds, the world jazz/soul-funk group with Adrian Quesada of Grupo Fantasma and Martin Perna of Antibalas (and frequent sideman for TVOTR, Scarlett Johansson, Celebration, Dragons of Zynth and others), headline. The lineup also includes Toshi Reagon & BIGLovely's varied folk-rock, electronica-influenced instrumental jams from Burkina Electric, Lebanese-born singer-songwriter Abaji and DJ Angola. Tickets are on sale. We also have a pair of tickets to give away. More info is below.

Speaking of Antibalas, we just mentioned that Antibalas's Knitting Factory residency would be continuing into 2010, but those shows have been canceled for now (stay tuned for new dates later in 2010).

You can still see Fela! on Broadway though (starring members of Antibalas in the band). In fact, you can see it for free or cheap(er). We're giving away TWO pairs of tickets to see Fela! (in addition to the pair of tickets to the Mondo Mundo Fest), and we have an exclusive discount code that will get you tickets at a reduced rate should you choose to pay for them.

Details on all of that, with a streaming NPR story, a flyer, and more info on Mondo Mundo, below...

Continue reading "Mondo Mundo Festival this weekend, WIN tickets to that and to FELA! (featuring Antibalas whose residency is cancelled)"

Burkina Electric is the first electronica band from Burkina Faso, in the deep interior of West Africa. With its main base in the music scene of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso's capital, it is, at the same time, an international band, with members living in New York, U.S.A. and Düsseldorf, Germany, as well as in Ouaga. In Burkina Electric's music, the traditions and rhythms of Burkina Faso meet and mingle with contemporary electronic dance culture, making it a trailblazer in electronic world music. Before starting Burkina Electric in 2004, band members Maï Lingani, Wende K. Blass, Pyrolator, and Lukas Ligeti had become close friends as members of Beta Foly, a group that emerged from a workshop led by Lukas and Pyrolator in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, which, among other experiments, created some of the earliest fusions of techno/trip-hop with African traditional music.

Saturday's Mondo Mundo Festival show at Hiro Ballroom (tickets) also serves as the CD release party for Burkina Electric's debut LP, Paspanga, which is coming out February 9th on Cantaloupe Music. Chris Weingarten describes the album as "West African ebullience, timeless electronic brainbugs, tireless experimentation, no hipster pandering". I'm listening to it on repeat as I type this. The group combines composer-percussionist Lukas Ligeti, vocalist Maï Lingani, guitarist Wende K. Blass, VJ/sound artist Pyrolator, and dancers Vicky and Zoko Zoko.

Listen to some songs on MySpace. All dates below...

Continue reading "Burkina Electric - new album, tour dates, NYC on Saturday"